From Elections to Democracy: Building Accountable Government in Hungary and Poland

Első borító
Cambridge University Press, 2005. ápr. 4. - 272 oldal
The countries of Central Europe in the first round for admission to the European Union have all established constitutional, electoral democracies and market economies. However, much remains to be done to achieve fully consolidated democratic states. This study documents the weaknesses of public oversight and participation in policymaking in Hungary and Poland, two of the most advanced countries in the region. It discusses five alternative routes to accountability including European Union oversight, constitutional institutions such as presidents and courts, devolution to lower-level governments, the use of neo-corporatist bodies, and open-ended participation rights. It urges more emphasis on the fifth option, public participation. Case studies of the environmental movement in Hungary and of student groups in Poland illustrate these general points. The book reviews the United States' experience of open-ended public participation and draws some lessons for the transition countries from the strengths and weaknesses of the American system.
 

Tartalomjegyzék

PolicyMaking Accountability and Democratic Consolidation
1
Alternative Routes to PolicyMaking Accountability
14
International Constraints
17
Independent Oversight
18
Neocorporatism and Social Dialogue
19
Public Participation in PolicyMaking Processes
20
Conclusions
21
Legacy of the Past
24
Limits of Decentralized Accountability
124
Public Participation in Policy Making Government Procedures
126
Neocorporatism and Social Dialogue
131
Civil Dialogue and Public Participation
137
Civil Dialogue and Public Participation
145
Conclusions
160
Civil Society Groups Overview
163
Individual Participation
166

Peaceful Protest
26
Institutional Legacies
28
Civic Associations Under Socialism
31
Conclusions
35
External Accountability and the European Union
37
Treaty or Constitution?
40
The EUs Impact on Democratic Consolidation
42
Subsidiarity and Delegation
47
The Democratic Deficit of the EU
49
Conclusions
54
Oversight
55
The Presidency
56
Constitutional Tribunals
64
Administrative and Ordinary Courts
70
Ombudsmen
74
The Procuracy Public Prosecutor
83
Audit Offices
87
Independent Institutions and PolicyMaking Accountability
97
Decentralized Political Accountability
100
Poland
102
Hungary
114
Organizational Structure
169
Environmental Advocacy Organizations in Hungary
175
Financial and Human Capacity
177
Popular Support Media Access and Expertise
182
Relations with Government
185
Conclusions
190
Student and Youth Organizations in Poland
192
Association of Polish Students
193
Independent Students Association
197
Initiative of the Young
200
European Law Students Association
202
Student SelfGovernments and the Polish Youth Council
203
Conclusions
213
Democratic Consolidation and PolicyMaking Accountability
216
The United States Experience
219
Recommendations
233
Appendix 1
241
Appendix 2
245
References
251
Index
269
Copyright

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A szerzőről (2005)

Susan Rose-Ackerman is the Henry R. Luce Professor of Jurisprudence (Law and Political Science) at Yale University, Connecticut. She has also taught at the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University, New York. She has held Guggenheim and Fulbright Fellowships and has been a Research Fellow at the World Bank, the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford, the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Austria, and Collegium Budapest. Professor Rose-Ackerman is the author of Corruption and Government: Causes, Consequences and Reform (Cambridge, 1999, with subsequent translations into nine languages), Controlling Environmental Policy and The Nonprofit Enterprise in Market Economies. She is one of the editors of Building a Trustworthy State in Post-Socialist Transition and Creating Social Trust in Post-Socialist Transition. Both these books as well as From Elections to Democracy are products of the project, Honesty and Trust in Post-Socialist Transition, jointly organized by the author and János Kornai at Collegium Budapest. Professor Rose-Ackerman has also published widely in law, economics and policy journals. Her research interests include comparative regulatory law and policy, the political economy of corruption, public policy and administrative law, and law and economics.

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